1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a grommet and a fixing structure of the grommet. More particularly, it relates to a grommet to be used for the wiring of a vehicle door harness and a fixing structure of the grommet.
2. Description of the Related Art
A grommet used for the wiring of the vehicle door harness is shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (kokai) No. 8-318796, as shown in FIG. 1. In this figure, the grommet 1 is attached to a side face 21 of a door inner panel in a vehicle door 2, the side face 21 being arranged on a hinge attachment side of the door inner panel. The grommet 1 comprises a substantially-rectangular grommet body 11, a cylindrical part 12 projecting from the body 11 and allowing a door harness 3 to pass therethrough, and an attachment plate 13 insert-molded into the body 11 and made of synthetic resin, for attaching the body 11 to the side face 21. As shown in FIG. 2, the attachment plate 13 is provided with four claw-shaped clips 13A projecting from the inside of the body 11 outward. On the other hand, four engagement holes 21A are formed on the side face 21 of the door 2, for engagement with the clips 13A. On the back side of the grommet 11, a pair of lid parts 11A, 11A are formed for allowing the door harness 3 to be accommodated in the attachment plate 13 when the parts 11A, 11A are closed upon the arrangement of the door harness 3 therebetween.
On condition that the door harness 3 is accommodated in the attachment plate 13, the clips 13A of the grommet 1 are inserted into the engagement holes 21A on the side face 21 of the door 2, for fixing the grommet 1 to the door 2. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a weather strip 4 is arranged along the side face 21 so as to pass over the grommet 1 fixed on the face 21.
In this grommet 1, however, there is a problem that the projecting amount of the clips 13A varies corresponding to the situation of the door harness 3 being accommodated in the plate 13 due to the arrangement where the clips 13A of the plate 13 are engaged in the engagement holes 21A in the side face 21 while interposing the door harness 3 between the attachment plate 13 and the lid parts 11A of the body 11. Therefore, the bonding force between the clips 13A and the engagement holes 21A is unstable. For example, if the door harness 3 is a collapsed one, then the projecting amounts of the clips 13A are increased to cause the grommet 1 to wobble with respect to the side face 21.
Additionally, since the above grommet 1 is fixed on the side face 21 through the plural (four) clips 13A, the wobbling may arise when even one clip 13A is not certainly engaged in the engagement hole 21A, so that a problem of easiness for water to permeate into the grommet 1 is caused. Therefore, it is necessary for a worker to assemble the grommet 1 with a skilled technique, so that the certain assembling cannot be effected quickly and easily.
Further, in the grommet 1, it is necessary to machine and form the plural engagement holes 21A in the side face 21 of the door 2, in positions corresponding to the clips 13A of the grommet 1, thereby causing the machining process of the door 2 to be complicated.
Further, since the conventional grommet 1 has the door harness 3 fixed thereon with no winding tapes, there arises a dispersion in the dimensions of the door harness 3, so that it may be easily slacked or pulled. In such a case, the resulting slack of the door harness 3 causes it to be caught by the closing or opening door 2. Alternatively, the pull of the door harness 3 causes it to be broken down. On the contrary, if desiring to fix the door harness 3 onto the grommet 1 with the winding tapes, then it is difficult for the worker to carry out the fixing operation of the door harness 3 on a flattened jig since the door harness 3 is L-shaped wired along the grommet 1. That is, in the conventional grommet 1, it is not easy to fix the door harness 3 on the grommet 1 by means of winding tapes.